Alasdair Allan, the SNP MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar has said that Labour’s UK budget accepts some of the SNP’s calls to increase public spending. However, the Western Isles MSP was disappointed the Budget contained few assurances for Scotland’s rural and island communities, and said that austerity was “far from over”.

The Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary, Shona Robison warned that public services in Scotland still face ‘enormous cost pressures’. 

The UK Labour Government set out some £40 billion in tax rises, including a rise in National Insurance contributions for employers, a policy the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies claims will hit those employing lower paid workers the hardest.

The Budget also failed to introduce policies to help benefit Scotland’s islands and rural communities, failed to reverse the controversial introduction of means testing for Winter Fuel Payments, and failed either to scrap the two-child limit on benefits or to reimburse the WASPI Women.

Following the Budget, Alasdair Allan commented:

“The SNP have continuously called on Labour to invest in public services and tackle poverty after 14 years of Tory austerity. However, given the rises in Employer National Insurance contributions, I worry all Labour are doing is giving with one hand and taking away from the other.

“The decision to uphold means testing for Winter Fuel Payments will be devastating for many of my constituents, who continue to face the highest levels of fuel poverty across the UK.

“I recognise that the UK Government have today accepted some of the arguments for spending on public services, but they continue to subject those services in Scotland to austerity.”